Here is my email to Quirk and McGovern today:
Bill and George,
As you are both acutely aware, the HDC 10-k signified that HDC has not received an update from SVM Capital since 2016. I reached out to Mark Moore relative to this, and he responded that this statement was not true, since SVM Capital provides a report to HDC each year. In response, HDC signified that the 10-k provision stands as written.
I view this issue as a microcosm of what continues to transpire with HDC, and why innocent shareholders, who have invested their personal money, are the ones who have been forced to agonize over a failed investment whereby even a simple truth appears to be impossible to obtain. As one of those shareholders, I am not interested in a ‘nuance’ around this issue. Clearly, one of the parties is not being forthright, and shareholders deserve the truth.
George: Since HDC owns approximately 50% of SVM Capital, it is your obligation to shareholders to identify where things stand, and to determine how HDC can effectively monetize it. The fact that HDC presumably hasn’t received an update since 2016 is not something shareholders should be reading in a 10-k, since you and your fellow board members are the ones who failed in your fiduciary obligations to shareholders relative to this asset, and this statement was clearly an attempt to take a jab at someone (I assume Mark Moore, particularly since I noticed that he gave Bill his share information as part of the complaint). Further, I don’t recall hearing anything about your inability to obtain reports from SVM Capital since 2016 until I read it in the 10-k, which to me is inexcusable. Let me put it to you bluntly – you have an obligation to chase this down expeditiously, and to provide shareholders with a rational explanation as to why you allowed it to languish.
Bill: As I mentioned, only one party can be telling the truth here, and since HDC is the party which incorporated this provision in the 10-k, it stands to reason that the current team has a lot more ‘at risk’ than Mark Moore if it deliberately lied in the 10-k. If Moore is the one being untruthful, there really isn’t a repercussion, is there? Either way, let me ask you a question, Bill – How is it that even if Moore was genuinely attempting to provide information, that a report only once per year is at all rational from a business standpoint? Doesn’t it stand to reason, Bill, that an active collaboration is necessary to ensure that an honest effort is put forth to allow this asset to flourish to the benefit of shareholders? Where have you been, Bill, while this issue was going nowhere? You obviously had no problem with adding Moore’s shares to your complaint process, but that, of course, was self-serving. Perhaps the only thing worse than adding his shares was your willingness to chase down the shares of Norris, whom you crucified years ago in an email to select shareholders.
It is extremely obvious to shareholders that the two of you are vengeful, and your ongoing actions continue to harm shareholders. George, when your first order of business post-shareholder meeting was to dole out additional rewards to the team, you lost credibility and you no longer reserve the right to inform shareholders that you are, first and foremost, representing us. Bill, your ongoing legal action, particularly after your own attorneys bailed, and whereby you refused to respond to very rational questions about your intentions, doesn’t sit well. Your actions, thus far, have only served to drain the company of critical resources, and you now don't even have legal representation. This isn’t going to be a de ja vu of 2010, when you orchestrated a personal settlement. Accordingly, I’m asking the two of you to stop the nonsense, and start identifying a way to collaborate and communicate appropriately. To that end, I’m publicly asking for a face to face meeting that will include only the two of you, along with me and two other shareholders, so that we can start sorting out the truth. This issue doesn’t require the attendance of an attorney. It simply needs an adult in the room. And, for what it’s worth, it now needs the attention of the SEC, although we can hold that issue for another day while that communication gets sorted out.
I, along with my fellow shareholders, will pay our own way to HDC’s offices to conduct such a meeting, since our goal is simply to flush out ongoing, irresponsible behavior and to discuss how HDC can be managed to the benefit of shareholders. I’d like a response from both of you relative to your willingness to accommodate this meeting request.
AI
